Catain Guilty in Counterfeit Money Scheme

A reputed mobster was convicted today in Los Angeles of taking part in a scheme to distribute part of a $3.5-million cache of counterfeit $100 bills.

Jack Catain Jr., 56, a Tarzana businessman, was found guilty of conspiring to transfer counterfeit on May 7, 1985, and the transfer of $50,000 in counterfeit $100 bills on April 18.

The jury acquitted Catain on a third charge, the passage of two $100 notes on May 3.

The counterfeit distribution scheme was allegedly organized by his cousin, who authorities said had printed the money before being sent to prison.

‘Nothing to Do With This’

“I didn’t have nothing to do with this,” Catain said after hearing the verdicts.

“Dirty tricks, they pulled them all,” Catain said of the Secret Service investigators and prosecutors from the federal Organized Crime Strike Force.

U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima scheduled sentencing for Dec. 8. Catain was allowed to remain free on $50,000 bail.

The verdicts marked Catain’s first conviction, although the government has labeled him a “major organized crime figure.”